I'm noticing over the last few years, mainstream sources are beginning to realize that we have serious problems facing our boys and men in the United States.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-do-life/201409/the-problem-boys

https://www.livescience.com/5505-society-ignoring-boy-problems.html

Now it's still a long way from getting some mainstream attention to a significant effort to actually do anything about it, but it's at least a start.

A lot of the people I talk to are aware of the difficulties that boys are facing; the only ones who aren't willing to listen to me are feminists, which isn't unexpected. They're aware that boys are falling behind, that depression and suicide rates are skyrocketing, that college enrollment is falling, and that male abuse victims have nowhere to turn to.

I will admit that these are just people I have personally encountered, but lest we say that women don't notice these things, I've found that most of them do. I'm capable of arguing intelligently and at least some are willing to believe me, even if we're not in total agreement.

Those who are willing to acknowledge male problems, at least from my observations, tend to be on the conservative. True, many of them dismiss it as "They're a bunch of pathetic snowflakes who don't want to grow up!" but some of them are seeing what is happening. The drop in life expectancy that's been all over the media has almost all been from men, not women.

However, I do have to temper this optimism as well. We're a long way from anything substantial getting done.

I have talked to feminists that I know (mostly friends of my mother and her boyfriend) and the response tends to be quite hostile. I make no claims that everyone does this, but it's a substantial number. Even those who do admit to these problems tend to respond: "Yes, but women have it much worse, so we focus on them!" or "Well, feminism is trying to help boys too!" which I haven't seen any actual evidence of.

The biggest obstacle, frankly, is that identity politics over the last 15 years have grown to critical levels. It's turned into an utter cesspool, where if you are white and male, you are therefore privileged and thus, not worth listening to. I've had people online dismiss and insult me for no other reason than that. And women's groups are very much aligned with the left. Men have all the privileges, women are oppressed, and thus, their problems are minimal compared to what women face.

Now if I have to take an educated guess here, I'd say that Men's Rights Supporters tend to be either conservative or libertarian (I lean closer to the latter) However, I've seen my share of liberals and progressives on here as well.

The thing is: you would think this would be an important issue for them. Every difficulty men face: from suicide, divorce, false allegations, lack of access to their children, depression, shrinking opportunities.... most of them are especially prominent among black men. Victims of false allegations are disproportionately likely to be black, the Brian Banks case being a rather prominent example of this. In some neighborhoods, having an intact family is the exception to the rule. You would think that being that they claim to give a voice to minorities, that they would do something, but unfortunately no.

Most people in the country are not feminists, men or women. Generally what I hear is that they're a bunch of fat, ugly lesbians who hate the pretty girls because they can't get laid. I'd actually prefer it if that was all it was.

So there are plenty of people, even if they don't call them MRAs, who know that we've got a major problem here and that something should be done about it; the details of what to do differ greatly. The problem is: do they actually care enough to do something about it?

So as discouraging as I'm sure this is for people who have done this for a long time, I'm attempting to hold on for some signs that this situation can change.